THE LISTENER | This is the End, My Friends

This is it. This last week was the last meeting, as I have accumulated all of the necessary hours to complete my internship. I thought it appropriate, this being our last meeting and post, to have the discussion be about – drum roll please – breakup songs.

Dr. Ortiz doesn’t have a specific chapter for breakups in his book, but that’s okay. Music is such a go-to remedy for this type of thing that it’s fairly common knowledge that it helps. I’ll assume Dr. Ortiz’s role momentarily and outline the two important types of breakup songs that one should listen to.

The Empathetic. These types of songs run parallel to our own feelings. If your breakup has caused you great anger, listen to a song with great anger similar to that which you feel. If your breakup has caused you great sadness, listen to a song of that nature. This can become more specific depending on the nature of the breakup. If a significant other was guilty of cheating, songs dealing with this topic are effective. As good as these types of songs are, however, it is vital not to forget about the second type.

The Encouraging. Just as the name suggests, these are songs to pick us back up and get us moving again. Whether it’s the mood, key, or lyrics in the song that does it, these are the songs that facilitate progress.

Keeping in mind these two general types of songs, here is the list from this week’s discussion:

“Your Shirt Would Look Better With a Columbian Necktie” – I Killed the Prom Queen

“Late Nights” – I Call Fives

“The Hardest Part Is Forgetting Those You Swore You Would Never Forget” – Being As An Ocean

There are some songs in the list that could qualify as both types of songs I’ve listed above. One example of this is “Need I Remind You” by Major League. There are lyrics in the song that echo possible thoughts and emotions (“I hope and I pray that you’re sorry. I don’t think this will be our year”) and lyrics that push the listener forward (“I’m gonna use this time to forget you, ‘cuz I wish that I never met you. I wrote this to let you know that I’m better off on my own”). “Romance Is Dead’ by Parkway Drive fronts the encouraging front with one crucial line: “Broken hearts never mend, but fools never move on.” A seemingly harsh attack to some, but a brutally delivered truth to others, as it was stated in discussion.

Before I conclude this post, and this group, I do have a couple recent stories to share. I attended two shows recently for observational purposes. The first was Silent Planet and Phinehas at The Warehouse in Wisconsin. I attended with a good friend (and regular group member), and we had a great time with a band that we both love dearly and had a good conversation about it on the way home. He and I have a similar view of this band, and we both connect to their music on a deeper level. Each time we see them, we leave feeling the same peace as we did the time before.

The second show was one that I played this last week down in Faribault, MN with a band called Mouth of the South. I noticed two things at this show; one of them is a personal observation and another is an observation I made regarding others. Both of them are spiritual in nature, so if you do not wish to read about it you are not required to. Mouth of the South makes Christian music. My observation about others is that they were able to use MOTS’s music as a means of spiritual connection and expression. Music has been used for this purpose for as long as the world has existed, but it is still very cool to witness. My personal observation was how the music affected me. Mouth of the South has one song called “Monologue” that I connected to very deeply. There is one part of the song that I often quote to describe my faith journey. The lyrics are below:

“What if I said I don’t believe in you; would we at least be making progress? You said luke-warm and you would spit me out. I tried to be on fire, but these waves have snuffed me out.”

The long story short is that I’ve struggled with my beliefs lately, Mouth of the South has a song that fits me, and it’s harder for me to get into the songs that aren’t quite like it. I had the pleasure of talking with vocalist Josiah Lyle and he completely understood where I was coming from. I’ve observed this many times before, but music is able to reach people in both the positives and the negatives of anything they may be facing, and it is this fact that makes music a wonderful phenomenon.

This is where I conclude everything. To anyone who has ever come to a meeting or read a post, I thank you. This was a lot of fun to do. I also would like to thank Twin Cities Catalyst Music for opening this spot up for me to share music and my studies with you all. If this is something you would like to see continued, I’m sure we can work something out in the near future. I’ll put my email down at the bottom of this post too in case you would like to ask any further questions.